BOOM! BOOM! Out Go The Lights on Oracle v Google

Oracle’s attempt to tax Android/Linux with patents and mess with Android/Linux with copyrights has been shot down. The jury has decided there was not much copying. The patents fell apart and the judge has just ruled that APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are not copyright-protected as he should.

So, Oracle has destroyed what little reputation it had in the world of FLOSS, Android/Linux will likely pick up steam and a lot of money has been poured down the drain for nothing.

Judge Allsup:

“So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out exactly the same function or specification of any methods used in the Java API. It does not matter that the declaration or method header lines are identical. Under the rules of Java, they must be identical to declare a method specifying the same functionality â€” even when the implementation is different. When there is only one way to express an idea or function, then everyone is free to do so and no one can monopolize that expression. And, while the Android method and class names could have been different from the names of their counterparts in Java and still have worked, copyright protection never extends to names or short phrases as a matter of law.”
I like it. 😉 Oracle’s attempt to spring the “Java Trap” has failed. Now, all I have to do is keep using LibreOffice, switch to MariaDB and/or Postgresql and stay away from Oracle as much as possible. It would be good if Oracle would reflect on the results of their actions and change their ways but I don’t hold much hope as long as Larry Ellison is in charge. Maybe he will drop out and save the world more annoyance.

About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.

Business, particularly big business, runs on Oracle database. If Oracle disappeared this weekend, there would be a mad scramble to implement Postrgresql sooner rather than later. I don’t understand business’ love of Oracle because Oracle is basically putting to use the RAM that business owns to speed up transactions, something that almost any database can do (trading RAM for storage is Computer Science 101) and many businesses are quite happy with Postgresql.

There is a belief that Postgresql is a reverse-engineered Oracle, but that’s not true. Postgresql was developed after Ingres, an academically developed database. They do compete. That’s not reverse-engineering. Both Ingres and Oracle evolved contemporaneously in the late 1970s. On raw transaction speed, Postgresql is quite competitive with Oracle. Where Oracle has an advantage is support to business. Essentially, Oracle charges a bundle for service that business considers essential while accounting “per processor” licensing. One can buy support for Postgresql but it is not as pervasive as Oracle.

Where I work at the moment (major UK company – 10k employees+ which is BASED on Red Hat Enterprise Linux as its primary architecture) – they are migrating away several major systems from Oracle to PostgreSQL (actually Enterprise DB – supported version of PostgreSQL) so yes open source based software is starting to bite Oracle where it hurts.

Oracle has always believed that it can own/control open source software and what the last few years has proven is that is not the case. There have been a number of major migrations away from Oracle

OpenOffice to LibreOffice

Hudson (Continuous Integration) to Jenkins

MySQL to MariaDB/SkySQL (although less so because Oracle was reigned in over MySQL)

The next one (I guess) should be VirtualBox to VBox

The litigation over Java is REALLY STUPID because if Oracle really cared about Java (which they don’t except to make money from it) then they would be ENCOURAGING Android! Everybody who works on Android has to learn Java – that encourages the use of Java and Java Frameworks.

Oracle could really be a good partner with the open source industry and still make fantastic money from their core services. After all, they created/supported their own Linux distribution (Oracle Unbreakable Linux – which is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux)…!

Larry Ellison is being so short sighted. After this farce – nobody in the open source community (and many of these are big users of Oracle products as well) will ever trust Oracle again – which ultimately will hurt their bottom line.

Yo back up now and give a brother room
The fuse is lit and I’m about to go boom
Mercy mercy mercy me
My life is a cage but on stage I’m free
Hyped up syched up ready for wil’in’
Standing in a crowd of girls like an island
I see the one I wanna sic come here cutie
I flip ’em around and then I work that booty
Work the body work work the body
Slow down girl you’re ’bout to hurt somebody
Oh and yo let’s get just one thing clear
There’s only one reason why I came here
Ya really done want me to tig-a-tig-a-tig-a tell ya wassup (go)
Ya really done want me to tig-a-tig-a-tig-a tell ya wassup (go)
Ya really done want me to tig-a-tig-a-tig-a tell ya wassup (go)
I came here tonight to hear the crowd go

Just how much do you pay Oracle annually for their products anyway, Mr. Pogson. I can understand your attitude towards doing any future business with them, since you morally object to their business methods, but I am wondering just how damaging that might be to their financial future, since I am pondering the purchase of some of their common stock, which seems to be at a cyclic low and a likely bargain, given their historic values.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. Now that I'm retired I still use GNU/Linux on every computer in my home except the smartphones which run Android/Linux.

Lately, I've been giving lots of thought to the world I inherited and which I will leave to my descendants. I'm planting grass, trees, flowers and vegetables in my large lot and I've ordered a Solo EV. I plan to charge my Solo by means of a tracking solar array. Life is good if you have a purpose. I do.